Status divorced

Did you know that Belarus has been firmly in the second place in the world for the number of divorces for years?

More than a third of Belarusian couples live from 1 to 4 years, the other part breaks up after 5-6 years of marriage, unable to withstand various types of “family crises”.

In general, about 50% of all marriages in Belarus end in divorce. It is not only about the divorce of parents from each other. but also about children, because about 40% of all Belarusian families have children under the age of 18.

The breakdown of relations between spouses may entail five categories of disputes, which, as a rule, are resolved exclusively in court:

• Directly divorce between spouses;
• Collection of alimony for minor children and / or collection of funds for the maintenance of a spouse;
• Determination of the place of residence of the children and / or the order of communication with the child of the separately living parent;
• Disputes regarding the division of property which is the joint property of the spouses;
• Housing disputes about the eviction of the former spouse and / or recognition of his loss of the right to use the premises.

And so let’s look at 1 category.

Divorce between spouses is possible in two proceedings:

• filing an application with the registry office (Art. 35-1 of the Code of Marriage and Family of the Republic of Belarus);
• filing a lawsuit on the dissolution of marriage in court (Article 36 of the CoMF of the Republic of Belarus).

What’s the Difference?

It is possible to terminate a marriage through a registry office only if the following conditions are simultaneously present:

• There is a joint desire to end a marriage;
• Spouses have no minor children;
• There are no disputes about the division of common property.

In case of divorce through the registry office, the period for reconciliation of the spouses will not be provided, however, in accordance with Article 35-1 of the Code of  Marriage and Family of the Republic of Belarus, no less than 1 month and no later than 2 months from the date of filing the application with the registry office must pass.

This can happen if at least one of the following conditions exists:

1. There are minor children;
2. There is a dispute about property;
3. There is no mutual agreement between the spouses regarding the dissolution of the marriage.

In this case, the court, having received requests for divorce, provides the spouses with a three-month period for taking reconciliation measures, as well as for reaching agreements on common minor children and the division of property (Article 36 of the Code of  Marriage and Family of the Republic of Belarus).

The second and third categories of disputes arise from the first condition of a divorce through a court: collection of alimony for minor children and / or recovery of funds for the maintenance of a spouse;

BUT! We draw your attention to the fact that divorce is not a prerequisite for the recovery of alimony. You can recover funds for the maintenance of minor children during the marriage.

Determination of the place of residence of the children and / or the order of communication with the child of the separately living parent;

Alimony for a minor child can be obtained in two ways:

– a court order;

– in the lawsuit.

The law also provides for the obligations of the spouses for mutual maintenance (Article 29 of the CoМF of the Republic of Belarus).

As for the issues of determining the place of residence of children and / or ways of communication between parents and children in accordance with Article 38 of the CoMF  of the Republic of Belarus in order to ensure the rights and legitimate interests of their minor children, divorcing parents can conclude an agreement on children established by the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Belarus for concluding settlement agreements.

If such an agreement between the parents cannot be concluded in the working order, the spouse may file a claim to determine the place of residence of the children and / or the order of communication with the child of the separately living parent.

Due to the second and third conditions, the occurrence of marriage should be 4 and 5 categories of disputes:

Housing disputes about the higher status of the former spouse and / or Housing disputes about the eviction of a former spouse and / or recognition of his loss of his right to reside in residential premises.

Let’s define the concept of “jointly acquired property”.

The definition of “jointly acquired property” or common joint property of spouses is secured by article 23 of the Code of the Republic of Belarus on marriage and the family: Property acquired by spouses during the marriage, regardless of which of the spouses it was acquired or for which or by which of the spouses the money was paid funds, is their common joint property. Spouses have equal rights to own, use and dispose of this property, unless otherwise provided by the Marriage Agreement.

Spouses enjoy equal rights to jointly acquired property even if one of them was engaged in housekeeping during the marriage, took care of children, or for other valid reasons did not have independent earnings (income), unless otherwise provided by the Marriage Agreement.

It’s important to know! In a divorce, the shares of the spouses on joint property acquired in the marriage are equal, however, by the decision of the court, the share of one of the spouses may be increased (decreased).

Housing disputes about the eviction of the former spouse and / or recognition of his loss of the right to use the premises are resolved only in court and in most cases are an integral consequence of divorce. This “procedure” is regulated by the Housing Code of the Republic of Belarus, as well as the “Regulation on the registration of citizens at the place of residence and place of residence”, approved by Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of 07.09.2007 No. 413 (as amended on 07.04.2017) “On improving the system registration of citizens at the place of residence and place of stay. “

The lawyers of our bureau will help determine the choice of procedure, the necessary documents, the procedure for their submission, the size of the state fee, the preparation of documents of varying complexity / applications / requests, and the protection of your interests in court. process, as well as in the process of reconciliation.

Properly provided legal assistance will help in resolving a difficult life situation.

Timely contacting a lawyer will save both nerves and money.

You can contact us for advice:

filling out the feedback form on the website www.advocate1.by

write to us by e-mail TarasiukMM@yandex.by

call +375 (33) 614-65-65 or +375 (29) 614-65-65 (viber)

We also inform you that in connection with the pandemic of the COVID-19 virus, we can provide you with legal assistance remotely by telephone.

It is possible to pay our legal assistance by transferring funds to a current account or through the ERIP system.

The article was prepared by an assistant attorney at the lawyer bureau «Tarasyuk, Ihnatiuk and Partners»  Semenova Ekaterina Aleksandrovna